Leg 9/2016

21 – 29 July Baiona (Spain) – Dublin, 600+ nm nonstop RYA Yachtmaster Ocean Qualifying Leg

 

 

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Crossing the bay of Biscay is in the dreams of many sailors. Not many sail training boats or charter vessels offer this, since it means that the boat in question needs to comply to stringent rules.e.g. the MCA MGN280 rules, and be coded for commercial offshore sailing. Regina Laska does fulfil all safety rules for crossing the Bay of Biscay and thus I can offer this type of offshore sailing.

This leg is more special than this! If you are planning to take the RYA Yachtmaster Ocean Exam one day, you first need to have done an ocean sailing leg covering more than 600 nm nonstop sailing. It is not necessary to hold a RYA Yachtmaster Offshore certificate to join this leg (however you need to be a Yachtmaster Offshore when taking the RYA Ocean exam later). It is, however, highly advisable that you are an experienced sailor before joining this leg, e.g. having experienced at least one non-stop sailing covering more than 100 nm on a previous Reginasailing leg.

We will start from Baiona, Spain, which is close to Vigo. Depending on weather, we might head out at sea immediately for the nonstop sail, in which case we would make  landfall on the south coast of Ireland for some relaxed cruising along the friendly Irish coast. If weather prevents us from casting off directly, we will spend some pleasant time, cruising north along Galicia and leaving Spain further north, e.g. Finisterre. In that case, the 4-5 days non-stop cruise would directly end in Howth outside Dublin.

Advanced weather routing, both from ashore as well as onboard weather interpretation of synoptic charts, routing software and satellite communication will be used to allow for a safe and quick crossing.

Further, celestial navigation will form a major part of navigation. It would thus be advisable that you prepare yourself with reading a book about celestial navigation, e.g. the RYA Astro Navigation Handbook or Tom Cunliffe’s The Complete Ocean Skipper.

 

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Price: EUR 2150 per person including all food consumed onboard, harbour fees, diesel etc